The web is a constantly evolving beast, and it can sometimes be a struggle to keep up. With new services popping up daily, there is a veritable Cambrian Explosion of online software emerging – and if you don’t want to be left behind like the dinosaurs, read on. And watch out for that meteor too.

Your website

Are you still using a company website that has been built using Flash? Only residents of the Jurassic period will be able to enjoy your content if that’s the case – mainly because most new mobile devices don’t support Flash, and T-Rex’s arms are too short to use an iPad.
Your website should be built using HTML and CSS – not only for mobile devices’ sake, but also for SEO and accessibility. You could even go one step further, and get a responsive website made – meaning your site will resize itself to any device, be it a desktop computer, or the latest mobile phone!

Blog

Hands up anyone who still uses Blogger? Go and sit with Triceratops in the corner. With a plethora of amazing new blogging software out there, you really have no excuse for not having a bespoke custom blog.
We prefer WordPress these days, as it allows us to design a completely custom website, and integrate it with other non-blog pages on your site seamlessly. So say no to templates, no to quick fixes, and no to extinction level events.

Facebook

Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently (that was a fossil joke by the way), you’ll have heard about the new Facebook Timeline. It might be time to have a fresh look at your page, and see what you can do with the new features. First, add a nice big cover image to the top of your page (needs to be 851 pixels wide x 315 pixels high), and then you can “pin” an important post to the top of your page, AND add significant events in your company history. These can include hiring your 10th employee (like we just did!), the date you founded the company, and other landmark events. Sadly, it doesn’t go back as far as 65 million years ago.

MySpace

It almost feels pointless mentioning this one – but should you be still using MySpace (and MySpace solely), may we suggest expanding to other more prominent social networks such as Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter? That’s not to say that MySpace has no uses at all – it’s still quite prolific amongst the music community, but there are lots of other ways to promote yourself too! If audio is your thing, look to get involved with Soundcloud, Audioboo and Last.Fm too.

Online Software

You might have heard people talking about “the cloud” recently – and no they’re not referring to a dust cloud which blocked the sun for hundreds of years as the result of a meteor strike. “The cloud” is a term to refer to a new wave of data storage methods, meaning that instead of your files being on one computer, or one device, you can now backup your files to the internet, and access them from anywhere! Handy huh? Give Dropbox a try – you can put your files in a folder, and access them from any computer, and even on your iPhone or iPad!

Pinterest

The latest “big thing” to give the Argentinosaurus huinculensis a run for its money, Pinterest is a new social network, allowing people to “pin” content they find funny, interesting or cool, and create mood boards, curate pictures, and generally keep track of niceties they come across on the internet. And no, it’s not just used by girls who like tea cosies, there’s a multitude of ways to use it: Logo collections, infographic collections, cool space pictures, owls, etc.. So get sharing!

Twitter

You would have to be a caveman to not have heard of this one – chances are, you already have an account – but are you using it for your business as well as you could be? Unless you’re conversing and engaging with your followers and friends, then you’re doing it wrong. Nobody wants to see you spam out 100 links to your latest blog post – you need to mix it up and get people talking to you. Talk to them first, and if they don’t talk back, well they’re doing it wrong too. Lucky for you, there’s over 140 million people on Twitter, so you’ve got plenty more potential listeners. You just need to invest some time, and with a dash of training, you’ll be racking up the followers faster than you can say Micropachycephalosaurus.

So don’t be a dinosaur, upgrade your online arsenal, and join us in the new age of online activity!

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About the Author

Keren Lerner

Keren is the founder and CEO of Top Left Design and runs it with passion and drive. She truly believes that communication is the key to making the world a better place and loves how great design and marketing makes it easier to communicate and understand.